interactive learning activities for nursing students

9 Fun and Educational Nursing Games

Nursing is an extremely challenging and stressful job. You’ll need to spend most of your day caring for patients and making sure that they get their medications and treatment on time. You’ll also need to assess them routinely to make sure nothing bad happens to them while they are under your care.

If you fail to unwind once in a while, you can end up with burnout that can easily make you want to leave the profession. Now, before that happens, try out a few nursing games .

Below is a really handy list of games that aren’t just educational but fun, too.

Fun and Educational Nursing Games

1. prognosis: your diagnosis.

If you’re always getting a busy shift but still want to brush up your critical thinking skills while on the go, then Prognosis: Your Diagnosis shouldn’t be out of your list of nursing games. This app can help you assess your knowledge about diseases, test your clinical knowledge, and apply what you know in a risk-free environment.

The game presents engaging scenarios that will really test you out as a nurse. Available on iOS devices, this game is designed for busy people like you.

2. Study Shack

Study Shack features more than 1,000 words and terms that nurses should know. Choose from crosswords, unscramble, and more.

Learning new words can be painful and hard. But this educational game will take both away because it is fun to play and goes from simple nursing words and terms to harder ones.

3. RNtertainment

• Traditional game board format  gives you the flexibility to create a competitive group atmosphere with fellow students/ colleagues, or to review on your own.
• Clinical questions and scenarios covering all the major nursing categories  provide an engaging review alternative to fully prepare you for the NCLEX® exam.
• Hundreds of challenging questions and rationales  from student-favorite NCLEX® exam expert  Linda Silvestri  reflect content on the latest NCLEX® test-plan.

RNtertainment has a lot of topics that will really challenge you. Its topics include Safe and Effective Care Management, Health Promotion, and so much more.

It comes in a traditional game format which can give you the opportunity to create a competitive atmosphere for you and your colleagues. It has over 800 questions that aren’t only educational but engaging, too.

The questions vary in format. You can encounter multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, and prioritizing types of questions. These are all great if you’re preparing for an exam, like the NCLEX. You can also find rationales in a separate book so you’ll be properly guided in playing the game.

4. Infection

Infection is all about diseases and medicine. Two to eight players can start the game with 5 disease cards and $500. Those disease cards contain causes, treatments, and symptoms of about 80 medical conditions.

You can pass them to your neighbors, leave them in public places, or get them treated by a Voodoo doctor. The first one to be disease-free and healthy wins the game.

5. Medical Monopoly

If you aren’t into apps and mobile games, then try Medical Monopoly . This board game is best played with your co-nurses during your day off or whenever you need to take a break and relax.

The game resembles the way modern healthcare works in that you need to compete with other hospitals to get the most number of patients. With $500 to start with, you’ll need to buy organs and perform transplant operations. You’ll need to properly diagnose patients, too.

6. Role-Playing

Role-playing is one of the best nursing games you should try if you are teaching nursing students. It’s interactive and encourages students to be more active and involved.

For example, you can group students into groups of two or three. Ask each student to assume a role. It can be a difficult patient, doctor, or relative. Instruct them to act out a common scenario in the hospital that can challenge a nurse’s skill or patience.

7. Quarantine

• Ages 13 and up
• For 2 to 4 players
• Playable in about 60 minutes

Quarantine is another board game where you need to build the biggest and most effective hospital while making sure patients and doctors are well attended to. It’s a form of a tile-laying game where you need to acquire the most number of tiles by beating other players.

Take note that there are highly contagious patients that can spread infections and shut down your hospital.

8. Pixel Hospital

Time management is critical skill nurses have to master if they want to be successful in their chosen profession. This is exactly where Pixel Hospital can help you.

The game puts you in charge of a busy ER attending to the victims of a pandemic that has hit the city. Being in charge, you need to utilize all the resources, staff, and equipment to make sure every patient gets attended to.

9. Trust Walk

Technically, this game won’t test out a nurse’s knowledge or skills. Instead, it can teach you about trusting your co-workers.

Surviving a busy shift when you’re alone won’t be easy. You’ll need help from your colleagues to ensure that you get all your tasks done and that all patients are safe and properly treated.

For Trust Walk, you’ll need a large room, chairs, traffic cones, and small blocks. Create groups of two. One player needs to go through the course blindfolded as his partner guides him with verbal cues.

Bonus: Nurse Bingo

A hectic shift can really do a number on morale. You can liven up your shift with a fun game of bingo. Download your free nurse bingo card here .

Download Nurse Bingo

• 11 Super Awesome Apps for Nurses
• A Guide to the Most Useful Free Nursing Apps
• 10 Useful Apps for Medical Students

Download Nurse Bingo Today!

Liven up any shift with a fun game of bingo. See who can fill a row first! Fill a whole card and lose grip with reality.

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About The Author

Brittney wilson, bsn, rn, related posts.

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Games and Activities to Liven up your Nursing Lectures

ChartFlow Team

Between medical terminology and pharmacology, nursing students can lose motivation and get bogged down with details. So how do you, a classroom instructor, help students stay focused and have fun? We’ve found a handful of classroom games that are free or low-cost for healthcare educators to liven up their classrooms.

Jeopardylabs.

This platform allows users to make their own Jeopardy style games and share them with the public. Thousands of nursing students and instructors have created games that you can access here for free.

Some of our favorites are Nursing Fundamentals for brand new students, Neurological Health Challenges and Pediatrics .

Before starting the game, you can choose how many teams will be playing and then you can divide your classroom into the appropriate number of groups. Have each team compete against each other to earn the most points during classroom Jeopardy!

MedGames.io

This website is full of games for medical and health students. While a lot of the biochemistry-focused games will not be relevant to the average RN student, these matching games for upper and lower limb anatomy are great classroom activities to do after reviewing the bones on Mr. Skeleton in the classroom.

They also have flashcards and matching games for Medical Terminology and abbreviations. We like the idea of doing the medical terminology matching games as a competition in-class. Have each student open the game on their phone and see who can get the best time!

This list of free game and activity ideas for nursing instructors

This blog post on the Elsevier blog had to have been written by an incredible teacher. We’re thinking she probably got 100% pass rates on the NCLEX if for no other reason than her classroom was so fun.

We won’t steal her content, but we do highly suggest you click on that link for free ideas like ACE Bandage Relay Races, Name that Personal Care Item, and O2 Bingo.

We adore Ponder, and not just because we have an amazing partnership with them. Ponder is a simulation board game that gives you the ability to bring critical thinking and decision making into the classroom without having to do a ton of setup.

Unlike some of the other free options on this list, Ponder does have a one-time fee to purchase the game, but we think it’s worth it. You can buy it on their website here .

Check out the game here:

We’d love to hear more about the games and activities you do at your school. If you’d like to write a guest blog post and share your strategies with the world, send us an email at [email protected]

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13 Educational Nursing Games You Can Play Online

Reading your thick books and studying all your notes aren’t fun. In fact, they’re boring and can easily make you feel sleepy.

If you want to make studying a lot more fun and enjoyable, why not play? It’s a great way to diversify your learning methods.

With these online nursing games, you can test your knowledge and sharpen your memory while having fun.

1 NobelPrize

NobelPrize.org is the official website of the Nobel Prize. Aside from featuring amazing scientific contributions from around the world, this website also provides useful educational games.

The games use Flash which makes learning a lot more pleasing to your eyes. You can try out  The Blood Typing Game, The Electrocardiogram Game, and The Immune System Game as they are some of the most visited educational games there.

2 Blood Flow Through the Heart

This is a simple game you can find in the free online gaming platform Quia. In Blood Flow through the Heart , you will have to trace the flow of a drop of blood through the heart. You’ll need to start from systemic entry to systemic outlet.

The game looks like a test but it can be played repeatedly until you’ve mastered the flow!

3 Learning Nurse

Learning Nurse has hundreds of nursing games and thousands of questions for you to practice on. The coverage is impressive as it has questions about Anatomy, Pharmacology , Histology, Diseases, Medical Abbreviations, Dosages and so on.

The site employs different strategies for the games, making learning fun and engaging at the same time.  The Learning Nurse games are built using html5 which ensures a faster and better gaming experience on both desktop computers and mobile gadgets.

4 EnglishMed

EnglishMed has various exercises and mini-games made for nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers. The activities are divided into different categories so you can conveniently choose the game that can help you enhance specific skills. Resources for further learning are even provided so you can continue enriching your knowledge about nursing.

5 Study Stack

Study Stack has lots of different nursing lessons categorized in different gaming formats. The gaming formats available are the hangman, quiz, puzzle, flashcards, matching, type-in, unscramble, study table, chopped, crossword, and many more.

There are hundreds of lessons included so you have lots of options. You can also convert the game you are playing into a different gaming format to maximize learning. If you are reviewing for the NCLEX , this site has hundreds of flashcards you can use to test yourself.

6 Medical Abbreviations

This is another game made in Quia gaming platform. It features common medical abbreviations in four different types of games – flashcards , concentration, word search, and matching type. You can switch gaming types as you progress through the game.

7 Nursing Learning Games and Activities

This website contains a comprehensive compilation of different nursing games and activities. The games are grouped into different categories for easy reference. Most of the games are made in Quia gaming platform so each game is easy to play and understand.

The categorization of games featured on the website is helpful in planning your studying strategy. It’s based on the sections of most nursing books so you won’t have a hard time planning your lessons.

Instructors helped developed the mini-games featured on the website so you can also be assured that you are learning the best nursing concepts to study or review for school.

8 SkillStat ECG Simulator

SkillStat’s ECG Simulator will help you know ECG rhythms by heart. It features random presentations of different ECG rhythms where you will have to pick the correct answer from the list. The average time you take to answer correctly is also reflected in the results to help you evaluate your own progress.

The game is helpful in mastering interpretations of different ECG rhythms in just a quick glance.  Nurses who have played the game before said that they had a lot of fun and that it’s very addictive.

9 Knee Operation

Knee Operation is a game on Crazy Games. It’s fun and educational in that it presents a case before the actual operation. It’ll guide you from assessing your patient, prepping the site to operating and applying the bandage on the operative site.

Apart from Knee Operation , you can also play Eye Operation and Teeth Surgery on the website.

10 Appendix Surgery

Like Knee Operation, Appendix Surgery is also a simulation game. This time, however, the game will guide you in assessing the patient for pain by applying pressure to her abdomen, getting and analyzing blood samples to performing the actual surgery. It’s a good game if you want to memorize how an actual appendectomy is done in the operating room.

11 Infection

At the start of the game, you and the other players will have $500 and 5 disease cards. Those cards have treatments, causes, and symptoms of around 80 diseases and medical conditions.

If you’re having a hard time getting online, don’t worry. There are free nursing games you can download on your devices to liven up your shift.

12 Prognosis: Your Diagnosis

This is a great game if you think you need to exercise your critical thinking skills. It will test your knowledge about medical conditions and diseases as well as your clinical knowledge. The scenarios the game presents are really engaging.

13 Pixel Hospital

Pixel Hospital is more than just a cute game. It’s actually a good tool to practice your time management and critical thinking skills.

The game allows you to play as an ER attending who is in charge of a really busy ER. Your city has been hit by a pandemic and it’s up to you to utilize all the staff, resources, and equipment in the most efficient and effective way. Your main goal is to make sure that all patients get attended to with whatever resources your unit has.

See Also:  5 Fun Low-Maintenance Mobile Games For Nurses

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7 Interactive Nursing Games: A Fun Way to Learn Critical Skills

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Captivating the interest of nursing students, particularly digitally-savvy Gen Z learners, can be a daunting task. To overcome the hurdle of disengagement, an option for educators is to embrace the power of interactive nursing games—innovative and stimulating tools that resonate with the lifestyles of learners in nursing school while fostering active engagement in the learning process.

Research reveals that nursing students can achieve a more profound understanding of the content through the use of serious games. This innovative approach to learning not only sparks excitement but also enhances engagement, retention, and problem-solving abilities. Furthermore, it empowers students to self-assess their learning capabilities and, crucially, hone their critical thinking skills. With such an arsenal of benefits, interactive games emerge as the ultimate tool in the modern instructor's toolkit.

We’ve highlighted 5  games that are a fun way to learn critical skills.

Nursing Games

1. create and swap nclex ®  exam questions.

This can be a collaborative game designed to help nursing students create, review, and exchange NCLEX ®  exam questions to enhance their understanding, critical thinking, and test-taking skills. Nursing students work in teams to develop challenging questions, which they then swap with other teams for review and practice. The game fosters a supportive learning environment, encouraging students to discuss concepts, clarify misunderstandings, and share insights. By actively engaging in question creation and peer review, students gain a deeper understanding of the exam material and build confidence in their test-taking abilities.

2. Healthcare education board games

Healthcare education board games offer an interactive and engaging approach to learning, allowing nursing students to develop critical skills in a fun and collaborative environment. These board games focus on various aspects of healthcare education, ranging from clinical decision-making to teamwork and communication. Here are a few examples:

• Friday Night at the ER
• The Ward Game
• Medical Monopoly

3. Immersive virtual reality

Immersive virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a powerful interactive nursing game tool, offering innovative and interactive experiences that enhance students' learning and skill development. It’s fun and involving while being serious. Through VR technology, nursing students can access realistic simulations that closely replicate real-life clinical situations. This immersive experience enables them to practice various skills in a safe and controlled environment without the risk of harming actual patients.

Introducing UbiSim , a VR training platform specific to nursing! We offer serious games that immerse nurse learners in a virtual world where they can tend to patients, respond to family members, and discuss treatment options with providers.

Here’s what an instructor using UbiSim had to say about the experience: “We’re bridging theory to practice and students really enjoy it because it makes it fun to learn,” Dr. Tina Barbour-Taylor, Nurse Educator in UWF’s School of Nursing , said. “It develops critical thinking and prioritization skills, and that’s the most important thing.”

4. Traditional role-playing games

Traditional role-playing games in nursing education immerse students in realistic healthcare scenarios. By assuming different roles, students gain a deeper understanding of nursing and empathy for patients and colleagues. They can also play other members of the healthcare team. These games provide a safe environment to practice skills and make mistakes without causing harm. Additionally, they encourage peer learning and teamwork, as students often work together to resolve complex situations. Role-playing games enhance the nursing education experience by combining learning with engaging, interactive gameplay.

5. Nursing jeopardy

Nursing Jeopardy transforms the renowned TV show "Jeopardy!" into a quiz game tailored for aspiring healthcare professionals. Students can dive into a world of nursing knowledge, navigating diverse categories and point-based questions that fuel their intellectual curiosity. The game sparks teamwork, bolsters knowledge retention, and sharpens critical thinking skills.

6. Escape room-style challenges

Some educational institutions and healthcare facilities organize escape room-style challenges for nursing students. These events require participants to solve puzzles and complete tasks related to patient care and nursing skills within a time limit. They promote teamwork and critical thinking.

There are six key design aspects to escape room-style nursing challenges: 

• Participant characteristics 
• Learning objectives and outcomes
• Puzzles and equipment

7.  Acting out medication commercials

Creating medication commercials as an educational game in nursing school involves students researching and crafting engaging advertisements for selected medications. It can even be an opportunity to use some humor! This exercise deepens their understanding of pharmaceuticals, including indications, contraindications, and side effects, while also honing their communication. Working in groups, nurse learners develop scripts and choose presentation formats, such as video, audio, or live demonstrations, to convey essential medication information effectively. 

Embracing the future of nursing education requires a dynamic shift that transcends conventional methods. By integrating interactive nursing games, educators can unlock the full potential of a new generation of learners. These games ensure that nursing students stay captivated and motivated as they navigate the challenges of their chosen profession.

As an integral center of UbiSim's content team, Ginelle pens stories on the rapidly changing landscape of VR in nursing simulation. Ginelle is committed to elevating the voices of practicing nurses, nurse educators, and program leaders who are making a difference.

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